The sky and Water
by Kixen
Summary: A response to a challenge by Anomaly-san72. After a long and grueling battle the organization final member falls. However Xenmas is not one to go quietly so in desperation he unleashes on final attack. When Sora get's caught up in it he get's sent to another Location. Will our hero get home, or will the problems of said area cause him to break his promise? Rated M for safety.
1. The Aftermath of the battle

I don't own Kingdom Hearts of any of the characters. They are doing a life sentence to Square and Disney without the chance of Parole. Enjoy Part one of the sky and water.

Realm of nothingness

"Curse it... Keyblade." Xemnas said weakly as he realized like the others he finally met his defeat.

As Xemnas slowly began to fade, Sora and Riku smiled knowing that after nearly 2 years their journey was over.

"We did it Riku we finally defeated the organization! Now all that is left for us to do is to..."

"You may... Have won the... Battle but you... Will lose the war." Xemnas said still fading.

"Your bluffs are worthless Xemnas. Your organization has fallen, and you are it's last member! After you are gone your threat to the worlds is over!" Sora said boldly.

"Sora is right! No one in the organization that was loyal to you hasn't faded into darkness so stop being such a sore loser and fade with some dignity!" Riku added.

"Savor your current victory... Heroes of the realm... of light. But remember victory... Has it's..." Xemnas never got the chance to finish his sentence as he completely faded back into darkness from whence all nobodies came.

Sora was about to say something when he and Riku felt a massive vacuum pulling the two of the them into the sky. Thinking quickly Sora caused a graviga spell on him and Riku (AN: Sora will have all his powers from both KH1 and KH2) causing their weight to become strong enough so as not to be pulled into the vortex. Quickly looking into the direction in which they felt the vacuum both teens looked into the sky and found the source of the pull.

"Riku it is a giant keyhole shaped vacuum! If it is like any other keyhole I closed one shot of my keyblade should..."

"We will have to worry about that later Sora, right now we have bigger things to worry about." Riku explained just before slaying a dusk. "Sora there must be at least 100,000 assorted nobodies in the pack. What a bad time to no longer belong to the dark realm." Riku said knowingthat if he did he would be able to get him and Sora out of there.

"We don't need the power of Darkness to handle this Riku, I once took out an army of 1,000 heartless single handed. Together we can wipe out 100,000 nobodies!" Sora said optimistically. "So what do you say the loser has to by the winner some sea and salt ice cream when we are done?"

'Besides I promised you I would return this to you Kairi, so I... No we can't fail here.' Sora thought to himself as he sent nobody by nobody back to the darkness whence they came.

'Sora is right, we have come this far, we can't lose to something like this!' Riku thought to himself as he followed Sora's lead and started sending the nobodies back as well.

The massive battle lasted for about 25 minutes until all of the nobodies that could be seen were destroyed. However, even with the lesser threat gone, the bigger one still remained. Worse to wear Both Sora and Riku were nearing the breaking points. However even at this point Sora still had enough energy within him to lift his keyblade to seal the vacuum keyhole. Or at least he would have if it hadn't been for a strong explosion from a stray Assassin nobody causing the spell he casted on himself to fade while nearly losing consciousnesses.

"Giving up... Already? Come on... Sora I thought... You were stronger... Than that." Riku said weakly as he grabbed Sora's hand and held onto his best friend's for dear life.

While holding his best friend's hand with one Riku took out his keyblade and pointed struggled to point it towards the vacuum. However, before Riku could lock the portal another explosion from a self destructing assassin nobody caused him not only a decent amount of damage, but in the process caused him to let go of Sora's hand. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to reach Sora in time Riku aimed his keyblade at the keyhole and fired the closing beam with the hope that the beam would lock the gate in time. Unfortunately for the former being of darkness Sora beat his closing beam and the end result was the vacuum closing right behind him.

'Darn it I wasn't fast enough!' Riku thought to himself. Sora I know you aren't gone, and even if I must plunge myself into the deepest darkness I promise I will find you and bring you back.' Riku said to himself before collapsing onto the ground.

No sooner did this happen did another dark path open with Kairi, the king, Donald, and Goofy coming out of it. Upon seeing their exhausted comrade on the ground Donald and Goofy each grabbed an arm and took him towards the portal.

"Kairi we need to get through before the portal closes again. Remember Namine said she wouldn't be able to make another one for us, and Riku is no longer of the dark realm." King Mickey explained.

"Not without Sora! He would never abandon us, so I won't abandon him!" Kairi declared as adamantly as she did when she saw Sora fading at Hallow Bastion over a year ago.

"He wouldn't want us to be trapped in this manged realm either Kairi! Besides Sora made a promise to you, so no matter where he is I am sure he will keep it." Mickey explained causing Kairi to sigh.

"Your majesty the door is fading hurry before we are trapped in here forever!" Donald panicked before he and Goofy took Riku through the portal.

"Don't worry Kairi there will always be a door to the light. His promise to you is his key to the door." Mickey explained before the two went through the door with it closing right behind them.

'Sora please be ok, I had to watch you fade right before my eyes once, please don't vanish from my life again.' Kairi thought to herself as she and the other traveled to the other side of the portal.

Destiny islands 5 hours later

Riku upon opening his eyes for the first time looked around to see he was no longer in the gray and white abyss where they fought Xemnas but rather the bright sunny sky of Destiny Islands. Seeing the young 16 year old open his eyes brought a sigh of relief from Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and the king.

"Riku thank goodness you are ok." Kairi said with slight relief in her voice.

Hearing the sound of her voice Riku tried to get up only for his body to burn in pain. Ignoring the burning sensation Riku once again tried to get up to his feet only to fall on his butt. Seeing Riku in this state Donald used his strongest Curaga spell to help the still injured Keyblade wielder.

"Don't push yourself Riku when we found you you were badly hurt. Even Donald's magic won't fully heal everything." Mickey explained. "By the way do you know what happened to Sora? When we got there we only saw you..."

"Before Xemnas was finished for good, he pulled out one last desperate trick. He opened up a keyhole shaped vortex while summoning an army of 100,000 nobodies to finish us off. We beat the army however by then we were greatly weakened. I tried to save Sora when he couldn't hold on anymore but an explosion to the back caused me to let go. In a last ditch effort I closed the Keyhole in the hope that it would stop before Sora was pulled through but I wasn't fast enough." Riku explained grimly. "Sora was pulled through just before I closed the keyhole and..."

"He is just out there somewhere waiting to be found." Mickey explained cutting off Riku. "Sora has been through some of the worst things and he still managed to survive. Like I told him when we sealed Kingdom hearts over a year ago, there will always be a door to the light."

"He promised he would bring my lucky charm back to me, and I know Sora won't let anything cause him to break his promise to me." Kairi added with a familiar optimism.

'Sora where ever you are I will find you as soon as I get better. Even if I must open my heart to the dark and become darkness itself I promise I will find you.' Riku thought to himself remembering the promise he made to a year ago when he was looking for Kairi.

...

"Where am I?" Sora asked feeling sore all over. "Last thing I was defeating the last member of the organization before being pulled into that vacuum."

"Vacuum? Was that why I saw you and that boy dress in black falling out of the sky?" A female asked causing Sora to turn to his left and to his right.

The first thing he saw was a very familiar person who he remembered seeing in the land that never was dressed up in his black robes. The boy was organization XIII XIII member Roxas. Sora The other was an unfamiliar site that Sora didn't take too long to take in. The girl in general has blue hair, blue eyes, and creamy white skin. Her attire consisted of a black sleeveless top with purple ribbon like string going from just above her bosom to around her back, a pair of skin tight black shorts with matching black nontransparent stockings and what appeared to be winged shoes.(AN: Sorry if I didn't get the description 100% accurate)

Sora was about to explain more when the girl in general gave him the signal to stop. She than quickly used two curaga spells which in turn caused both Sora to be able to move again and for Roxas to finally come to.

"Thank you for helping us, but if you don't mind me asking where are we exactly?" Sora asked not recognizing the place where they were.

"You in the Land of Departure training ground to all keyblade masters, and my home world." The female answered. "My name is Aqua, and who are the two of you?"

"The name is Sora. My friend over there is Roxas. But I have to ask why are you staring at Roxas like that? It is like you have seen him before or..."

"Hey Aqua why are you out here still? Master Eraqus is waiting for you so you an Terra can do the mark of mastery test." Another said getting Aqua's attention.

Upon seeing the boy calling out to Aqua Sora instantly realized why she was staring at him so. If you had changed up either of their wardrobes one would mistake one of them for the other. However upon looking at the two boys she helped she could instantly tell the differences between the two.

'These two both have the same power as me and the others. With Sora I can sense a very strong light one that is brighter than any I have felt. But with Roxas I sense a strong light along with an equally strong darkness.' Aqua thought to herself before walking over to the Roxas lookalike.

"Sorry Ven it is just that these two fell out of the sky and I couldn't just leave them in their condition. You am sure the master will understand." Aqua explained before Sora and Roxas got up on their feet. "Sora, Roxas, please come with us. I would like you to meet our master. I am sure he would be interested in meeting the two of you."

'So what do you say Roxas? We are in the training ground for keyblade masters and each of us asked why did the keyblade choose us.' Sora whispered only for Roxas to shake his head.

'I am your nobody, so whatever power you had before you lost your heart would become my own. But that doesn't explain why you became a keyblade master. So for the sake of finding an answer I will go with you.' Roxas whispered back as the two keyblade wielders follow Aqua and Ventus.

Stage out


	2. the mark of mastery part 1

I don't own Kingdom hearts or any of the characters. They are doing a life sentence to square and Disney without the chance of parole. Enjoy part two of The sky and water.

Land of departure

"Sora how did we get separated again? One moment I felt myself within your heart, the next I find myself next to you?" Roxas whispered.

Sora himself had no answer to this question seeing as he himself was also clueless. However, remembering the turn of events that led them to be there Sora gave his best guess.

"It might have to do with that keyhole vacuum Xemnas made. It must have made the two of us separate again. But why is that a bad thing? Even if you are my nobody you deserve to be your own person Roxas." Sora whispered back causing his nobody to smile.

'That is so like Sora, I know if the roles were switched I wouldn't have been so nice.' Roxas thought to himself still smiling.

"We are not only incomplete but thanks to what happened we only have half our original power. While I know we are both strong enough to take out higher up nobodies, we are still handicapped. We need to..."

"Hey Aqua there you are, I thought I was going to have to find you and... Who are they, and why is it that I feel the same power coming from them as us?" A brown haired teen asked throwing Sora and Roxas for a loop before he walked over to Roxas. "I have to also ask are you related to Ven in some way? You are the spitting image of him with a few differences."

"No relation to him. In fact, this is the first time I have ever met him." Roxas explained. "By the way, who are you? Roxas asked.

"Where are my manners? My name is Terra, and I take it you already met Aqua and Ventus?" Terra asked getting a nod from Sora and Roxas.

"You can just call me Ven. My friends always do. By the way Terra, how did you know they had the same power we do?" Ventus asked.

"To the untrained eye everyone looks the same Ventus. However, with the correct training you will be able to sense the power within keyblade wielders." An older voice explained. "So you two are the ones who landed on our home world, and caused my pupils to be late."

"I am sorry for being late Master, but you taught us to never..."

"There is no need to explain Aqua, I know you healed their injuries and I would have been more disappointed in you if you left them battered." The man said before turning to Sora and Roxas. "Where are my manners? I am Aqua, Terra, and Ventus's master Eraqus and you are?"

"The name is Sora." Sora answered in a cheerful tone.

"I am Roxas." Roxas answered in a calm tone.

"Just by looking at the two of you I can tell that the both of you are in a league that is above my three pupils. However, neither of you have the mark of mastery. Didn't your masters ever train you for..."

"When I got the keyblade it came to me because it was needed. I never had a master train me." Sora explained remembering that dark night on his island over 2 years ago.

"The very same can be said of me. I had no clue as to why it choose me or why I could wield it until recently." Roxas explained.

'I received no warning that the worlds are in danger, and normally the only time the keyblade comes to someone like that would be if someone who is a wielder would grant them the power. Maybe that is the case with the two of them.' Eqarus thought to himself trying to rationalize their story.

"Well despite not having a master I can sense the power both of you have and from what I feel despite not having any training from a master your powers are both great." Eraqus explained. "Normally I don't give the mark of mastery exam to outsiders, but seeing the two of you come like this I feel it is fate. Aqua, Ventus, Terra, Master Xehanort is waiting inside. We best not keep him waiting for too long."

Upon hearing the name Xehanort both Sora, and Roxas became completely uneasy. Especially after having to vanquish his heartless and nobody. Still for all they knew it could very well be someone else with the same name.

'I thought I took care of his heartless and nobody before even getting here. So it has to be a different guy but with the same name.' Sora thought to himself as everyone walked towards the main chamber.

"Eraqus, what took you so long? I thought for a moment I wouldn't be witnessing your two pupils make the mark of mastery." A dark skinned old man said. "And who are they? Keyblade masters from other worlds that came here for the mark of mastery?" The man asked also sensing the power within them.

"From what I saw the two of them fell from the sky like fallen meteors and landed on our door step. I used my healing magic to restore them to full health." Aqua explained.

"I can also sense a very strong light coming from within both of them but especially from Sora." Eraqus explained calmly. "Come this way the test and your possible marks await you."

'I always thought that if the keyblade chose you then you were the master. I guess there is more to it than that.' Sora thought to himself as he and the other walked into the main chamber.

'That old man has a similar yet more foul darkness than even Xemnas possessed. He must be tied into to him somehow.' Roxas thought to himself never taking his eyes off of the dark skinned old man.

'Sora, remember what I said I was when you asked who I was?' Roxas whispered causing Sora to nod. 'I don't know how, but that man has the same darkness as Xemnas only several times stronger.' Roxas whispered before Eraqus began speaking.

"Today you will be examined for the mark of mastery. Not one but four of the keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates... But this is neither a competition nor a battle of supremacy. It is not a test of will, but a test of heart. All of you may prevail or none of you may." Master Eraqus explained before turning to the other keyblade master in the room. "But I am sure Master Xenahort didn't come this far to see our youngest prospects fall short of the mark of mastery. I trust your four are ready."

"Yes." Was the only one response that came from the four candidates.

"Very well, then let the examination begin." Master Eraqus said calmly before summoning his keyblade.

With one quick flash of light from his blade two sets of 20 spheres appeared within the room. However, no sooner did the twenty sphere's of light appear did each of them become tainted with the power of darkness. At first, Eraqus was going to call the examination off due to this, however seeing how the four test candidates jumped into the action and started wiping out the spheres he decided against it. But what surprised him the most was how the two candidates he hadn't seen before speed through the first part quickly.

Not wanting to be outdone by Sora and Roxas, Terra, and Aqua quickly jumped in and started going to work on the darkness tainted spheres. As this test went on Eraqus and Xenahort took a close look at the forms Sora and Roxas's keyblades took.

'That blade there is no mistaken it. That is the kingdom key Sora wields. But how is it possible? That is supposed to be the light realm's keyblade, and to my knowledge it is still waiting for when it will be needed so how?" Eraqus asked himself just before he watched a tainted sphere fly towards Ventus.

"Ven look out!" Terra and Aqua both said at the same time only for young keyblade chosen to skillfully slash the sphere with little effort.

"Don't worry about me, you need to focus on the exam!"

"But Ven it is too dangerous you need to go to your room!" Aqua said with concern.

"Not going to happen! I have been waiting for months to see the two of you become Keyblade masters. I won't miss it because of something like this!" Ventus explained just before he slashed two more of the spheres.

"He has been training just as hard as we have out there Aqua. He can handle himself against something like this." Terra explained as he destroyed yet another sphere.

As the five keyblade's chosen continued to go through the test Xenahort watched the two unknown candidates go through the test and couldn't help but smile at the one who looked like Ventus.

'I don't know how these two got here, but that boy has a very strong darkness within him. While I was planning on using Terra and possibly Aqua for my new vessels that boy would make a far better candidate for me than those two. But still it never hurts to have a backup plan in case one fails.' Xehanort thought to himself as he watched the spheres he corrupted with darkness get destroyed.

As Sora, watched his nobody fight, what shocked him the most was that instead of duel wielding his keyblades, he was only using his Oathkeeper keyblade. Not one to be outdone by his other Roxas destroyed the final three sphere before everyone came back to the center.

"That was unexpected. However, even in the most trying of times one must keep a still heart. It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Now on to your next trial. Terra, Aqua, you two will..."

"I know this may be an odd request, but I would like to see Sora, and Roxas go first. It would give us a better understanding of their strength's and weaknesses seeing as we know both Terra, and Aqua's already." Xehanort explained.

'There's strength is equal in power, and I can sense Roxas is holding back his power. There is no way those Roxas won't unleash his darkness to even the playing field, and with that I will be able to truly gauge his power.' Xehanort thought to himself.

"An odd request, but seeing as he is the guest of honor, I see no reason why not." Eraqus replied before turning to Sora and Roxas. "Sora, Roxas both of you will face each other first in blade to blade combat. Now remember there are no winners only truths. For when two equal powers clash their true nature is revealed." Eraqus explained.

"While I know this isn't a competition Roxas, no matter how it end no hard feelings ok?" Sora said in a calm tone as he revealed his Kingdom key.

"I know however, it doesn't change the fact that I was wanted a rematch with you." Roxas answered as he unleashed his Oathkeeper keyblade in his left hand and his oblivion in his right causing everyone other than Sora a bit of surprise.

'Roxas has two keyblades? but how it that possible?' Aqua, Ventus, and Terra thought to themselves in surprise.

'This boy has a light and a dark keyblade, but can he effectively keep the later in check?" Eraqus asked himself.

'Fascinating this is unexpected but not unwelcome. From my research there has only been two others who could duel wield. Let's see how he handles himself in battle.' Xehanort thought to himself.

"Ready... Begin!"

Stage out

The next chapter will conclude the mark of mastery exam and the new masters will be chosen. Any thoughts comments concerns? PM me or leave them in a review.


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